Compiled by the Urban Education Institute at the University of Chicago, this document is an abbreviated review of studies that have found links between the concepts measured by the 5Essentials and student outcomes.

In this Issue: Greetings from the Executive Director of School Improvement; Get to Know the BSI Regions; Meet the BSI Team; Learn About the BSI Staff Supporting You at Turlington; BSI Highlights; Charlie's Corner; In Case You Missed It

This introductory course (CIMS 101), presented on June 24 at the 2015 Florida School Improvement Conference, covers general CIMS navigation, main features and functions, support resources, plan tracking, and the District Problem Solving module.

School- and district-level activity cards, modeled after the game of Bingo, that orient new users to the CIMS system; this activity was first distributed during the CIMS 101 course at the 2015 Florida School Improvement Conference.

A visual representation of the phases and actions required to publish a plan, proposal, or application in CIMS; this handout was distributed during the CIMS 101 and 202 courses at the 2015 Florida School Improvement Conference.

This template meets the requirements of Form TOP-2, incorporated by reference in Rule 6A-1.099811, F.A.C. Completion of this form is required of districts planning for implementation of turnaround in 2018-19.

This form should be used by districts submitting their initial district-managed turnaround plan (TOP-2) for implementation in the 2017-18 school year and who wish to apply for additional funds made available from the Schools of Hope program.

This template meets the requirements of Form TOP-2, incorporated by reference in Rule 6A-1.099811, F.A.C. Completion of this form is required of districts planning for implementation of turnaround in 2017-18.

Organized by five themes aligned to the 5Essentials, this Toolkit is intended to support district reflection and conversation regarding points of strength, opportunities for growth, and next steps for turnaround implementation.

Approved by the State Board of Education on November 18, 2014, the purpose of this rule is to set forth the Differentiated Accountability (DA) State System of School Improvement pursuant to Section 1008.33, Florida Statutes.

Final list of schools categorized for Differentiated Accountability (DA) support in 2017-18 (Targeted Support & Improvement; Comprehensive Support & Improvement) including turnaround status, based on Rule 6A-1.099811, F.A.C., and years in status.

Final list of schools categorized for Differentiated Accountability (DA) support in 2016-17 (Priority, Focus, Monitoring Only) including turnaround status (Planning, Implementing), based on Rule 6A-1.099811, F.A.C., and the number of years in that status.

As of August 1, 2016, there are four Differentiated Accountability (DA) regions in Florida: Northwest, Northeast, Southwest and Southeast. This document provides a map and list of districts assigned to each region, and the Regional Executive Director.

Schools categorized for Differentiated Accountability support in 2015-16 (Priority and Focus) including turnaround status (Planning or Implementing) based on Rule 6A-1.099811, F.A.C. Also includes Former F schools under SIP monitoring.

This map illustrates the DA regions by school district. Those districts that do not currently have DA schools are still assigned to a region in the event that future DA support is needed. This document also includes a list of DA Team members by region.

Schools categorized for Differentiated Accountability (DA) support in 2014-15 (Priority and Focus) including the turnaround status (Planning or Implementing) based on criteria set forth in Rule 6A-1.099811, F.A.C. "Prevent" schools are also listed.

This how-to guide walks plan editors through the process of submitting a SIP once it is complete. It also provides directions to reviewers and approvers for requesting SIP edits and approving a SIP for publication.

This how-to guide walks plan editors through the process of submitting a DIAP once it is complete. It also provides directions to reviewers and approvers for returning a DIAP for editing and approving a DIAP for publication.

This tool helps teams delve deeper into possible root causes for not making progress toward strategic goals, and provides additional guiding questions for determining whether barriers have been reduced and if strategies are being implemented with fidelity

This protocol is intended to guide participants through the Mid-Year Reflection process within a structured format, including identifying roles and norms, orienting to the MY tools, independent processing, consensus building and establishing next steps.

The schools listed in this report were not able to achieve the appropriate SAC membership composition during the 2015-16 school year. Each district was required to submit a corrective action report during the 2016-17 school year per s. 1008.345 (6)(c).

This form should be used by districts submitting their initial district-managed turnaround plan (TOP-2) for implementation in the 2017-18 school year and who wish to apply for additional funds made available from the Schools of Hope program.

This is Florida's official grant award notification from the U.S. Department of Education authorizing funding for School Improvement Grants, which Florida will use to make competitive sub-grants to districts for Cohort 3.

Florida's eligibility list for the SIG 1003(g) competition for Cohort 3, based on the ESEA Flexibility list of priority and focus schools, determined by a combination of 2011-12 school grades, prior SIG cohort status, and graduation rates.

Provides a brief description of the School Improvement Grant 1003(g) program and lists the 11 schools in nine school districts that were selected through a rigorous review process to form SIG Cohort 3.

This memo was sent to superintendents on December 20, 2013, to invite comment on Florida's request to waive the school eligibility requirements for FY13 funds in order to use the Priority and Focus lists from Florida's ESEA Flexibility waiver.

This logo was designed to represent Cohort 3 as a diverse set of schools with unique strengths and challenges, but forming a community of support connected by the common thread of SIG 1003(g) funds. (Design by Ladd Skelly)

The Bureau of School Improvement (BSI) will be hosting two identical workshops to provide districts with an opportunity to build understanding of the Cohort 3 SIG program design and proposal process. Attendance is not required.

Florida's list of schools eligible for the SIG 1003(g) competition for Cohort 4, based on the ESEA Flexibility list of priority and focus schools, determined by 2013-14 school grades or graduation rates.

Provided for districts that would like to work on responses offline. Responses must be submitted via the SIG4 Proposal survey in CIMS by 5:00 p.m. December 29, 2016. Word submissions will not be accepted.

This checklist will be used in the first round of the SIG4 competition to determine the extent to which the proposal demonstrates understanding and documentation of the requirements and optional components.

A completed "External Provider Information Form" for UChicago Impact. This form is available as reference for districts that will administer the 5Essentials Survey, but it does not need to be uploaded to the SIG4 Proposal.

Describes the process by which SIG-funded Continuous Improvement Directors are to be hired and placed on regional teams, as well as the primary responsibilities, desired characteristics and experience.

This document provides a list of the requirements of a schoolwide program plan pursuant to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and the location within the department’s SIP template where each may be addressed.

This document provides a list of all indicators in the Best Practices for Inclusive Education (BPIE) school-level assessment and the location within the 2017-18 SIP where each indicator may be addressed.

This document contains the UniSIG 2017-18 application outline. The actual application will be completed as a survey that must be created and submitted in CIMS. The document should be used for planning purposes until the survey is released in CIMS.

Guidance

The Toolkit lists a wide variety of documents for download. Clicking the Download button for a Toolkit item will usually result in a dialog asking you where you would like to save the document.

In some cases, your browser settings may dictate the save location for you, and the browser will not ask. In these situations, a link to the downloaded document may show up at the bottom of the browser (Chrome) or in a separate downloads dialog window (Firefox). Click the link to open the document, which you can then save to another location, if desired, or print.

A Note About PDF Files

The Toolkit downloads may come in any of a number of file formats, but they are primarily PDF documents. Many current browsers like Chrome and Firefox now include a built-in PDF viewer plugin by default. In these cases, if the Toolkit document is a PDF file, it should open within the browser, and from there you should be able to locate save and print buttons.

However, if you experience problems viewing PDF documents in your browser you may want to attempt to force a download of the document so that you can open it within the Adobe Acrobat Reader software installed on your computer.

To force a download, right-click the Download button and choose the "save as" option from the resulting popup menu. You will then be able to specify the folder where the document is saved, and you should subsequently be able to double-click the file in that location to open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader.